How to Make an Infographic in Under an Hour [15 Free Infographic Templates]

Wouldn't it be great if creating infographics was as simple as writing regular ol' text-based blog posts? Unfortunately, the reality is that making visual content like this usually takes a lot more time, effort, and let's face it -- skill -- than the written word. Usually.

But considering the popularity and effectiveness of visual content in marketing today, you can't just afford to throw in the towel.

That's why we decided to take all the pain and suffering out of infographic creation. Seriously -- don't throw in the towel just yet. You, too, can create professional-looking, high-quality infographics, and quickly. I'm going to prove it. First things first:

Then, all you have to do is provide the content to use inside them. Easy as that! In fact, I'm going to show you just how easy it is by taking one of our 15 infographic templates in PowerPoint (pictured above) and creating my own, customized infographic with it. Then, I'll explain exactly what I did so you get a sense of how easy it really is.

Would you rather watch this tutorial instead of read it? Check out the video below:

How to Create Infographics For Free in Under an Hour

Step 1: Collect your data/content, and choose your desired template.

Your first step is to collect the data/content you'll be using to populate your infographic, and choose an infographic template appropriate for representing that data. The important thing is to choose a template that specifically works for the type of data set/content you want to present. As you saw pictured above, you can download our 15 infographic templates in PowerPoint and choose whichever template you'd like. Some of your template options here include a timeline, flowchart, side-by-side comparison, and a data-driven infographic.

You can either collect third-party data or use your own original data. If you use third-party data, just be sure you properly cite your sources -- just like in any other good piece of content.

To keep your infographic uncluttered by a ton of different source URLs, a great way to cite your sources is to include a simple URL at the bottom of your infographic that links to a page on your site listing the individual stats used in your infographic, and their sources -- such as the blog post you're using to publish your infographic. That way, your infographic looks clean and professional, yet people will still be able to access the sources no matter where the infographic gets shared or embedded. It may also even drive visitors back to your site.

For the sake of time (remember, our mission is to create an infographic in under an hour), for my infographic, I'm going to choose a compilation of social media stats, charts, and graphs we've already collected from our 2015 Social Media Benchmarks Report, and I'm going to pick the "Cold Hard Numbers" infographic from our collection of infographic templates, which is appropriate for my data set since it conveys statistics using charts and graphs. This template is pictured below:

Step 2: Customize your infographic.

Obviously, this is the most time-consuming part -- but it's also the most fun! Simply come up with a catchy title, plug in your data/content, and adjust your font sizes and formatting. Feel free to switch up the graphics, too, so they're relevant to the data you're citing. You can use the simple graphs and charts provided by PowerPoint to create things like the bar graph or the pie chart. (Note: Download our free infographic templatesfor a cheat sheet for using PowerPoint's various features and tools.)

To customize the look of the infographic even more, you might add or change up the colors or font styles.

Finally, I included a link to my source (which can be found here), as well as the HubSpot logo so people know who created the infographic if it gets shared in social media or embedded on other websites -- which is definitely something you want, since one of the main benefits of infographics is their shareability.

That's it! This whole thing took me under an hour to put together -- much shorter than it would've taken me if I'd started from scratch (not to mention more professional looking ... and cheaper than hiring a designer). Here it is:

Share this Image On Your Site

Step 3: Add an embed code and "Pin It" button, and publish it!

The only thing left to do is to publish and promote your awesome new infographic. As I mentioned earlier, we recommend using your blog to publish it (including your list of sources), including a "Pin It" button for visitors to easily share your infographic on Pinterest, and create and add an embed code for visitors to share it on their own websites and blogs, as we did above.

Editor's Note: This post was originally published in August 2013 and has been updated for accuracy and comprehensiveness.

Hey the biggest advantage is the fact it takes not to much time but i think that there are better online application to create infographic. But hey this is still free so for sure i will test it on some website. THX.

Pamela, these kick-@SS! For an info-graphic novice and over-taxed marketer this is just what the doctor ordered! I didn't even mind the misspelling THANKS!

marco

Frankly speaking, these templates are not for infographics, but just for big and colorful numbers. No data visualization, apart from a couple of histogram bars.
Infographics are creative design combined with imagery, sometimes with intelligence and humorism. Data visualization are abstract shapes proportionally layered to represent a bunch of facts.
Here I can't find any.
Pls stop spreading these junk that ruins real infographic designer like me

Marco, while they might be the best designs in the world, I am willing to bet, that if you focus on great educational content, they will more than get the job done. Not every company has a budget to spend $1k on each infographic they want to produce throughout the year.

great tool! what I like to do before I even start and which saves me some extra time is I quickly brainstorm the design and the flow of the graphic, then I create a simple sketch of how I want to organize the information, then 1 (previously 3) hour later voila!

great tool! what I like to do before I even start and which saves me some extra time is I quickly brainstorm the design and the flow of the graphic, then I create a simple sketch of how I want to organize the information, then 1 (previously 3) hour later voila!

Awesome stuff Pamela - thanks for sharing.
Templates are good to start with, but content OEMs should push boundaries, not find gaps, IMO.
Designing an infographic is all about space-design, real-estate, ergonomics. It's like designing car interiors - there are many subtle creative energies at work. It requires spatial visualization skills - something that's not easy to do with random data or with templates.
If I came across any of the above templates - I wouldn't be sharing or promoting it, unless the 'Topic' and the 'Data' make up for the poor design choices. Poor design will put pressure on the data, topic and research to be extraordinary.
http://sameer-agarwal.com/2012/10/indigo-worlds-fastest-growing-lcc/ - something I had made last year - would love to get some feedback.
This is another I made about the success KissMetrics has had from Infographics.
http://productnation.in/a-kissmetrics-case-study-infographic/

I am yet to take my shot with Infographics designing yet in my career. But I have seen many people are climbing in this to promote their brands, and services. It is an amazing way to deliver your words in the market without even breaking through the systems.

Hi Andrea: You'd want to optimize your infographic the same way you'd optimize any other image on your site. This blog post provides some great tips for optimizing images (http://blog.hubspot.com/search-engine-optimizing-non-written-marketing-content). Furthermore, if you're publishing your IG on your blog or website, you can do things like make sure the page title of your blog post/web page includes keywords for your infographic as well as the word "infographic." Finally, make sure you're providing an embed code to encourage people to share your infographic and give you inbound links (this post explains how to easily create an embed code: http://blog.hubspot.com/how-to-create-embed-codes-generator-infographic-content-ht). Hope that all helps! -- Pamela Vaughan | HubSpot Senior Blog Strategist

The most time-consuming part of creating an infographic is the layout. The palette, color combinations, the aesthetic, shadows, everything should match with your data and most important your website.
Very nice templates too!
Kostas

Thank you. I have been looking for ideas and thoughts about this area and your article is a good starting point.

Shilpamayunk

Thanks Pamela great job.You have explained nice techniques.As per my knowledge Info graphics can deliver depth and definition in a way that words alone or images alone simply cannot.So it is always good to approach professionals for customized designs. You can find some beautiful designs at http://graphs.net/